When Ezequiel first focused on the gate that led into the Sacred Trial, a sense of foreshadowing assaulted him. It was as if he would find the most dangerous place in the entire Prima Universe beyond that majestic scar.
However, a sense of purpose came along with that feeling of absolute doom. Something deep inside him told him that crossing that scar would give him a chance to evolve his destiny beyond the limits of the Prima Universe.
The Supreme Neo-Demon knew that his current destiny would allow him to reach the Primarch level. If he pushed himself beyond his limit, he could even evolve four of his Cores of Existence, achieving the same cultivation level as the Incarnation of Death and Destruction or World Tree.
Nevertheless, after seeing the war in the Pre-Epoch Prima Universe and the might a True Rank 10 life form could achieve, Ezequiel knew that would not be enough.
So, despite the sense of imminent doom that majestic scar gave him, the Supreme Neo-Demon still went ahead and entered the Sacred Trial.
Ezequiel managed to hear that voice calling him Destiny Child of Emptiness before a blinding him made him lose consciousness.
Once Ezequiel regained consciousness, he did not have time to wonder about the meaning of that title as wave after wave of sensory information assaulted him. He was a Rank 7 life form, and his mind could allow him to understand what every man, woman, and child expressed inside a world simultaneously without a problem.
But now, the sensory information he was receiving was so much that an extreme sense of dizziness and weakness affected him. It was so much that he began to puke and twist in agony in a matter of seconds.
Ezequiel felt as if raging colors were stabbing his eyes, and a trillion of indistinguishable noises pierced his eardrums. Things did not end there, as a form of gas surrounded him, overloading his sense of smell, taste, and tact.
If that was not bad enough, what came next made this dimension impossible to bear for even Rank 7 life form. Ezequiel's proprioception, the perception of his body in space, and chronoception, his awareness of the passage of time, were also affected.
Ezequiel could be moving at superluminal speed or being completely still, while at the same time, years or maybe not even a second passed, and he would not know.
Luckily, before those feelings shattered his mind, Ezequiel used his Inner Origin Essence and Outer Origin Essence to isolate his body from the outside completely. That shut down all his senses, throwing the Supreme Neo-Demon into a world of infinite darkness.
While that was not conformable, it was much better than the nauseating ocean of sensory information he was facing before.
As the dizziness and weakness vanished, Ezequiel had time to think. He first generated a clock inside the Inner Law Dimension, using his heartbeat as a timeframe. Since it worked on its own, even if that loss of chronoception assaulted him, he would still be able to monitor the passage of time.
'It was as if the rules that guide space and time were gone. The sensory information I am receiving is too much and in absolute disarray, making it impossible to adapt to the surroundings. According to Master's studies, this dimension's nature is similar to a universe region with laws broken beyond remedy.'
A standard Rank 7 life form would lose their sense of self in a region like this, as they were still unable to adapt to an environment without the guidance of the laws. The fact that the entity sent him here proved two things to Ezequiel.
First and more importantly, it had the power to kill the Supreme Neo-Demon whenever he wanted. And since he did not do it, this place must be a trial.
'But what it is testing?'
According to Hyperion's information regarding the Sacred Trial, the first trial would have tested his constitution and would be nothing like this dimension.
It was clear to the Supreme Neo-Demon that the challenges ahead would be like nothing the Sacred Trial displayed before, so he ignored all the information the Titan Primarch had given to him and took it as something completely new.
'First, I need to adapt to this dimension. I don't have an Inner Universe that allows me to bring order to the chaos surrounding me. I can only enhance my body so it can adapt to the sensory information.'
The Supreme Neo-Demon started with the sense of taste and smell.
Instantly, a nauseating feeling assaulted Ezequiel. It was as if the gas around him contained every smell combined and a myriad of flavors mixed into one disgusting sensation.
Since Ezequiel had shut everything else down, while the sensory information was immense, it remained in the realm of acceptable.
Ezequiel managed to endure for ten minutes before shutting down his sense of smell and taste. He rested for half an hour before reactivating them.
The second time, he managed to keep them active for thirty-five minutes before once again shutting them down. It went like that for six days before his sense of taste and smell finally adapted to the new environment.
Next came Ezequiel's sense of touch. Once he activated it, the gas around his body felt like a blade. The sensation was not any less than being flayed alive.
An unbearable pain assaulted the Supreme Neo-Demon, and if it weren't for his True Will being at the Sun Collapser Rank, he would have a hard time thinking.
Like his sense of taste and smell, Ezequiel's tact gradually adapted to the strange environment. This time, it took him fourteen days.
After his taste, smell, and tact, the Supreme Neo-Demon tackled the sense of hearing. It proved to be much more complicated than the other as waves of noises containing millions of voices, all speaking simultaneously but in different dialects, reached his ears.
There was also a loud static noise that made Ezequiel feel his eardrums would explode.
All that combined made the Supreme Neo-Demon feel so dizzy that it affected his concentration even more than the agonizing pain of adjusting his sense of tact.
Ezequiel did not give up or postpone things regardless of the task's difficulty. He kept improving by the minute, slowly adjusting to the myriad noises in the dimension.
It took the Supreme Neo-Demon two months of intense nausea, dizziness, migraine, and fatigue, but he managed to adjust his sense of hearing to this strange dimension.
Once Ezequiel did that, he heard a message that someone hid inside that static.
"Destiny Child of the Emptiness, you have two years to take one step forward. If you fail, I will purify your existence's essence and pass it down to one of the other contestants.
Current time left: One year, nine months, and nine days left."
The same ancient and slightly maniacal voice that laughed when he entered the Sacred Trial was the one that spoke those words.
Ezequiel did not doubt that he would perish if he failed to take that step forward. He did not feel fear or regret. It was his choice to come here despite the danger, and a free man must accept the consequences of his actions.
Silver flames overflowed the Supreme Neo-Demon's eyes as he opened them and began to tackle the sense of sight.
